Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Here is Michel Am-Nondokro Djotodia: The New Leader of CAR

Michel Am-Nondokro Djotodia: No 1 Strong Man of CAR

The Central African Republic, CAR now
has a new leader in the person of Michel Am-Nondokro Djotodia. SELEKA Rebels overthrew
the government of President François Bozizé on Sunday, March 24, 2013 who came
to power ten years ago also by force of arms.
Michel Djotodia was military leader of the Séléka rebel coalition in the
December 2012 rebellion. It should be recalled that information filtering into
our office indicates that the new leader has dissolved the government and has
suspended the constitution.

Sources say following the January 11,
2013 Libreville Peace Pact, he was in February 2013 appointed First Deputy
Prime Minister for National Defense in the government of national unity headed
by Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye.
Born in 1949 in the town of Vakaga, Oubangi-Chari region in the northeast of
the country, Djotodia is generally considered an intellectual who speaks
several languages. His two earlier attempts at getting into Parliament in
Vakaga Prefecture all ended in failure. Djotodia then embarked on a diplomatic
career, becoming the Central African Republic’s Consul in Nyala in Sudan’s
Darfur region. He is said to have used his presence in the town to make friends
with Chadian rebels, then supported by the Sudanese government.
Djotodia lived in exile in Cotonou, Benin Republic during the war where he was
later arrested together with his spokesman, Abakar Sabon, at the behest of the
Bozizé government. They were released in February 2008 after agreeing to
participate in peace talks with the CAR government. The former civil servant
and diplomat then took refuge in South Sudan where he laid the groundwork for
the creation of his rebel movement and the training of its fighters. In 2006,
he founded the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity, UFDR.

In December 2012, Djotodia was a key military leader in the Séléka rebel
coalition that rapidly took control of a large portion of the country, coming
within striking distance of the capital, Bangui. In March 2013, Séléka resumed
fighting, accusing Bozizé of failing to keep his promises. In protest against
the government’s alleged feet-dragging, the rebels later held all their five
ministers captive in the town of Sibut, including Djotodia

When News Breaks Out, We Break In. Minute by Minute Report on Cameroon and Africa